Thu Jan 22 2009 09:01Bears and Books:
Maggie got a Fox in Socks from the hospital so we brought up the book for her to to read with it. And yes, that toy is as ugly as it sounds. She, of course, knows that her 100 Acre Wood friends go with her Pooh books. Now she's started wanting to snuggle Patrick the Bear while reading The Berenstain Bears books.

(1) Thu Jan 22 2009 15:48Teaching Piano:
I had so much fun teaching piano lessons today. I paid a girl on our street to babysit Maggie so I didn't have to worry about her. Best investment ever. My new students are so bright and because they are younger, I've been looking for some fun games to incorporate into our lessons. I found so much stuff, I can't wait to use some new ideas next week for all my students.

ETA: I had a really hard time searching for game ideas online. I finally managed to stumble onto two websites that were helpful: Music Matters Blog and this blog.

I use the Bastien books. I looked at several other programs and decided to use what I was familiar with. Recently, I looked closely at some other series' to see if I could find something better for my pre-reading student, and I decided I'm very happy with the Bastien. It has some major flaws - focus on "hand positions" rather than note-reading for one - but I still think it's the best.